


Doctor's Prognosis, A

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Pre-White House (West Wing)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-08-19
Updated: 2000-08-19
Packaged: 2019-05-15 01:22:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14780957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Jed is diagnosed with MS.





	Doctor's Prognosis, A

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

A Doctor's Prognosis by AJ

Spoilers: Jed is diagnosed with MS. 

Disclaimers: A girl can dream...right?

 

Jed Bartlet, Governor of New Hampshire was in his home office diligently working on the stacked up piles on his desk when his lovely wife entered the room. She crossed the office as if she were going to go stand behind him, but then decided to turn around and lay down on the couch.

Jed observed her behavior, and took note of the fact that she said nothing at her entrance. He watched her as she lay there. She rested one hand on top of her forehead, and let the other arm fall down to the ground. She kicked her shoes off to the side before slipping her feat up and snuggling them into the side of the comfy couch.

Watching her as he had been, Jed dropped his pen and carefully set all of the papers that were in his hands, down on the desk. He then stood up and made his way over to the couch that had drawn so much of his attention of late. As he got there, he lifted Abbey's feet up and sat down, letting her feet rest on his lap. As he began to message one of them, she finally began to speak.

"That feels so good. Don't stop." She begged.

"Did you have a hard day at the hospital?"

"It was horrible, Jed. You should have seen it. There was this little boy, eight years old, that came in. I had to diagnose him with Leukemia. When I told his mother, she burst into tears. Her son looked so confused. He didn't have a clue what was going on. It broke my heart."

"Let me fix that." Jed removed her feet from his lap as he bent over his wife and began to kiss her.

"Are you feeling okay, sweetie?" Abbey asked breaking from the kiss. "You feel kinda warm. Like maybe you're coming down with a fever or something."

"Stop being a doctor, and just kiss me." Jed immediately began kissing her again.

As soon as their lips interlocked, the phone began to ring. Jed brushed it off at first and just continued with his actions. Abbey finally couldn't take the noise and directed her husband to the phone. "Answer it, Jed." She pointed at the phone.

Jed, not wanting to get in trouble with his wife stood up and began to walk to the phone, when he collapsed mid way.

"JED!!" Abbey screamed. She immediately got up and ran to him. Kneeling down beside him, she turned him over so that he was lying on his back. Once she did, she felt his forehead. He was burning up. At that, she ran to the phone, which had yet to stop ringing, she frantically answered it. Leo was on the other end.

"Leo, I can't talk right now, I gotta call the hospital."

"Abbey, what happened?"

"Nothing happened." Abbey didn't want to worry her husband's best friend. She knew he was in D.C. and wasn't able to come.

"Abbey!" Leo exclaimed.

"I can't talk right now, Leo. I need to make a phone call." Abbey hung the phone up and dialed 911. Once she got off the phone, she ran into their bedroom, the next room over, and retrieved her medical bag. When she got back, before she had a chance to do much of anything, a couple of paramedics came running into the room.

"Thank God you're here." Abbey proclaimed as the two young men rushed over carrying a gurney.

"Can you tell us what happened, ma'am." The blonde haired one asked the First Lady of New Hampshire.

"Yeah, he fainted. And he's running a fever." Abbey began.

"Okay, thank you ma'am. We'll take it from here." The darker haired man said as they lifted Jed's body onto the gurney.

"Not without me, you're not. I may be his wife, but I am also a doctor. I'm coming with you, and I'm helping." Abbey cried out.

********************

"Abbey?" Jed said as he began to open his eyes for the first time since he had had a whole bunch of tests done since he fainted.

"Shh...Don't talk sweetie. Just rest." Abbey said as she sat on the chair next to his hospital bed.

"Where am I?" Jed started to look around.

"You're still in the hospital. You fainted, remember." Tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Why are you crying?" Jed saw the tears, even though she tried to hide them from him.

"I'm scared. That's why."

"I know you better than that. Tell me why you are crying, please." He begged.

"I already told you...I'm scared."

"I see it in your eyes, babe. There's something wrong...there's something wrong with...me, isn't there?"

Abbey couldn't speak. She was frozen in the chair.

"What is it? What's wrong with me? What's going on? Why am I still in the hospital? You said I fainted … what caused it? What were the results of those tests? Talk to me."

"You have Multiple Sclerosis." Abbey said hysterically through her tears.

"Calm down, Abbey. I can't hear a word you're saying. You're gonna have to repeat it."

"You have...Multiple Sclerosis." Abbey said calm enough for Jed to understand.

Jed closed his eyes and dropped his head down on to the hospital bed at the words his wife spoke. "How bad is it?"

"You have a kind called Relapsing-Remitting MS."

"What's that mean? What does any of this mean?"

Abbey choked back her tears. "When ever you have an attack, you should experience a full recovery."

"Should?"

"You're life expectancy is normal, thank God. Any time you get sick, or stressed out, you have a much greater chance of having at attack."

"By attack … you mean…?"

"Yeah." Abbey knew what her husband was asking.

"Is there any way to treat it?" Jed was still shocked from the news.

"Um, I'm gonna put you on something...it's called betaseron."

"What's that going to do to me?" The news still hadn't fully sunken in yet.

"It...uh, it reduces the frequency of the attacks. It's the best I can do sweetie." A single tear began to fall from her cheek.

"Come here." Jed directed.

"I am here."

"Closer, come closer. In fact, get up here on the bed with me." He further directed.

Abbey did as she was asked and climbed up on to the hospital bed with her husband.

"I love you." Jed wiped the tear from her eye. "I don't want you to worry about me. You know how stubborn I can be. I'm not gonna let this get to me. And I don't want you to let it get to you. Understand?"

"Yeah." She whispered.

********************

"Leo, what the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be in Washington." Jed said seeing his best friend entered his hospital room.

"I called you the other day...I knew something was wrong. Abbey wouldn't tell me what it was, but I knew it was something. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just fainted, that's all."

"You've been in the hospital for three days now, Jed. Don't tell me you just fainted."

"What can I say, I have a worried wife with a lot of pull at this hospital." Jed nervously tried to pass his friend's concerns off.

"Bulls*it! Something is wrong, I know it is. Don't lie to me, Jed."

"I'm not lying, Leo. I fainted, I have a fever. That's all. I promise."

"You'd tell me if it were something more?"

"Yes, of course I would, Leo. But trust me, it's not. I just fainted." Abbey had been standing at the door of the room for some time, hearing Jed try to pass the past few day's away as if they were nothing.

Leo heard her move, and turned to face her. "Abbey, I'm glad to see you. Would you tell me what is wrong with your bull-headed husband?"

"He's bull-headed." Abbey replied honestly.

"Yes, I know this. But what is he doing in the hospital? He's been here for three days. There's no way it's just because he fainted. What's going on?"

"Nothing is going on Leo. Just like he told you, he fainted."

"Then why is he still in here?"

"Because I am a very overly protective wife, and doctor."

********************

Leo and Jed spent some time catching up with each other. It had been a few weeks since they had actually seen each other, Jed being the Govonor of New Hampshire, and Leo being the Secretary of Labor. After a few hours of getting caught up, Leo finally left and went back to his hotel room, leaving Jed and Abbey.

"You are going to have to tell him, Jed. It's not something you can keep secret." Abbey looked in his eyes with a serious look on her face.

"I don't want him to know. I don't want him to worry."

"He's already worried. Probably more so because he knows that something is wrong, and you didn't tell him."

"I want to keep this a secret. I don't want people to know."

"You can't hide from it. Even if we are the only ones that know about it...you're still going to have it. You can't make it go away be denying that you have it, Jed."

"I'm not denying that I have it, I just don't want people to know. Can you do that for me? Can you promise me that you won't tell anyone?"

"What about the kids? They should know, they have a right to know."

"No one else, Abbey. No one else. Just you, me, and the girls."

"Why? I don't understand."

"I don't know, I just...I just don't want anyone to know. That's all. So when do I get to get out of here? You've had me locked up for three days now."

"I've been waiting for that question."

"Then you should have an answer for it."

"I do, I do. In fact I was just told that I have to let you go home, but . . "

"But... but you're gonna keep a tighter eye on me at home, aren't you?"

"Probably."

"Just no more taking my temperature with that damn thermometer. Okay?"

"And how do you suggest that I take it?" Abbey asked gazing into her husband's eyes.

"I'm glad you asked." Jed began to raise his eyebrows. "How about taking it, oh, I don't know. Recreationally?" Abbey playfully slapped his arm, as he reached his hand up and grabbed her behind the neck. Bringing her closer in, he passionately kissed his wife on the lips.

The End.

  


End file.
